The old boarding-school type of discipline which had flourished
under Miss Howard, and lingered fitfully under Miss Freeman, gave
place in Miss Shafer's day to a system of cuts and excuses which
although very far from the self-government of the present day,
still fostered and respected the dignity of the students. At the
beginning of the academic year 1890-1891, attendance at prayers
in chapel on Sunday evening and Monday morning was made optional.
In this year also, seniors were given "with necessary restrictions,
the privilege of leaving college, or the town, at their own
discretion, whenever such absence did not take them from their
college duties." On September 12, 1893, the seniors began to
wear the cap and gown throughout the year.

Other notable events of these five years were the opening of the
Faculty Parlor on Monday, September 24, 1888, another of the gifts
of Professor Horsford, its gold and garlands now vanished never
to return; the dedication of the Farnsworth Art Building on
October 3, 1889, the gift of Mr. Isaac D. Farnsworth, a friend of
Mr. Durant; the presentation in this same year, by Mr. Stetson,
of the Amos W. Stetson collection of paintings; the opening, also
in 1889, of Wood Cottage, a dormitory built by Mrs. Caroline A. Wood;
the gift of a boathouse from the students, in 1893; and on Saturday,
January 28, 1893, the opening of the college post office. We
learn, through the president's report for 1892-1893, that during
this year four professors and one instructor were called to fill
professorships in other colleges and universities, with double the
salary which they were then receiving, but all preferred to remain
at Wellesley.

This custom of printing an annual report to the trustees may also
be said to have been inaugurated by Miss Shafer. It is true that
Miss Freeman had printed one such report at the close of her first
year, but not again. Miss Shafer's clear and dignified presentations
of events and conditions are models of their kind; they set the
standard which her successors have followed.

Of Miss Shafer's early preparation for her work we have but few
details. She was born in Newark, New Jersey, on September 23, 1839,
and her father was a clergyman of the Congregational church, of
mingled Scotch and German descent. Her parents moved out to
Oberlin when she was still a young girl, and she entered the college
and was graduated in 1863. The Reverend Frederick D. Allen of
Bo